


The Chandelier

by hito_ritabi



Series: NTN [22]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 20:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13174785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hito_ritabi/pseuds/hito_ritabi
Summary: Adults in their early 40's are adventuring through a dark castle and decide to pass their time with one whining about the chandelier his wife put up before they left.





	The Chandelier

“So that's when I told her that chandelier had to come down. And you know what she did?”  
  
“Screamed.” Rhys guessed casually without even looking back to Adell. He didn't sound interested persay, but it wasn't a strong enough tone to convey that he didn't want to hear the rest of the story. The sound of voices echoing around us in this dark creepy place is comforting.  
  
The two were walking up a wide staircase in a dark castle. Around their feet was a thick fog, making it nearly impossible to see where they were stepping, so they tread slowly. In Rhys's right hand was a kerosene lantern, illuminating enough for them to see by, and his left palm was pressed gingerly against the wall. They had made it through the front doors, and up the first flight of stairs from the entry foyer. The landing they had stepped onto had only a single large double door that was shut tight, so they opted for going up the next flight of stairs they saw, heading higher.  
  
Adell was a few steps behind Rhys, his hand on the banister to guide himself up. “She screamed!” Adell confirmed with a droll tone. “You should've seen this chandelier, Rhys. It was god-awful ugly.” Rhys began to snicker, half-way at the way Adell was narrating like this was a satirical play, and half-way at his own imagination starting to picture the chandelier. “It had a hundred frickin' candles on it across three tiers, and tons of crystal danglies to increase sparkle potential and if that wasn't bad enough – you know what else it had? A bow.”  
  
“A gift bow?”  
  
“Godwilling, but no. A bow.” Adell cursed as they stepped around the gentle curve into the next landing. “This big red ribbon bow was tied at the base of it as if to make it look cute and appealing. I wanted to hurl!”  
  
“So you hurled it.”  
  
“Couldn't. It was too damn high. But I did knock it pretty hard with the ladder when I was trying to climb up to reach it.”  
  
“What did Mia do?” Rhys started chuckling again, but he was speaking with a plain tone to convey his pretend attempt at seriousness.  
  
“She about strangled me!” Adell groaned. “You know, she called it the most beautiful chandelier we've had to date!”  
  
Rhys shook his head. “She needs to stop trying to outsmart the truth.” He chortled, then stopped walking. The two looked around the landing – empty of furniture or anything of note. “So, what happened to the chandelier?”  
  
“I had it moved to her study.” Adell ran his hands across his forehead and into his red hair. In the dark light, Rhys only saw the outline of the motion. “Didn't Hydros say she'd meet us here?”  
  
“Maybe she meant higher up still?” Rhys frowned. “She couldn't have meant that room downstairs.”  
  
“The door didn't open.” Adell's brow furrowed as he stepped over to his friend. “We could go check it again if you want.”  
  
“Maybe...” Rhys tapped his foot softly a few times as he thought. Adell waited, looking over his shoulder to the staircase to their right that went higher into the castle. “I feel like that might've been the main audience chamber. You saw the size of this castle – it might be we're supposed to meet there.”  
  
“I dunno. It seems too obvious to hide something special behind a locked door.” Adell shook his head. “Let's check out this floor first before we carry on.”  
  
“All right.” Rhys nodded, with a tone like he didn't want to agree.  
  
The two proceeded forward through the landing to look over the floor. They didn't wander too far down the dark hallways they found. They stepped through an open-floor gallery that looked down to the foyer below, found a decent sized ballroom, and then a seating room – but the strangest thing was the lack of furniture. It was eerie.


End file.
